


untitled alien university snippet

by MelayneSeahawk



Series: Bunny Euthanasia Project 2018 [7]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Daniel the Academic, Gen, University
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-04 02:23:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16337984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelayneSeahawk/pseuds/MelayneSeahawk
Summary: Daniel is a guest lecturer at an offworld university





	untitled alien university snippet

**Author's Note:**

> THIS FIC IS ABANDONED because I don't remember where it was going (other than it was probably going to be shippy, because it's me writing), but I loved the idea of Daniel being a guest lecturer at an alien university, because of course he would jump at the chance to do that.

“What are we doing here again?” Jack asked, tapping out a staccato rhythm on the butt of his P90 as he watched Daniel adjust his tie.

“I was invited to teach about what we know about the Pontifex,” Daniel said. “Bridgemakers. What we call the Ancients. You’re not bringing that.”

“Why not?” Jack asked, reflexively wrapping his arms around his P90. “We’re on a mission, we should be armed. And you’re not armed, so I definitely should be.”

“Then bring a zat,” Daniel said irritably. “We’re on a university campus, you’re not bringing a gun. I still have my sidearm,” he added, patting the slight bulge under the left side of his jacket. He looked around the room they’d been given; Daniel had insisted they be given a complete picture of the university so they had been given a dorm room, complete with sickly yellow walls and a set of moderately-comfortable bunk beds. Some things, Daniel thought, were the same no matter where you went. “Let’s get going.”

Jack grumbled something impolite but left his weapon on the lower bunk, the grumbles turning into a full-blown “fercryin’outloud” when Daniel immediately loaded his arms with a small battery-powered LCD projector. “Why am I here again?”

“Because you told the general I should have a military escort, and he took that to mean you were volunteering, especially since Teal’c’s visiting Ry’ac and R&D kidnapped Sam,” Daniel said, slinging his laptop bag over his shoulder. “What are you worried about, Jack? You just have to sit in the back of the classroom and pretend you’re not falling asleep.” He smiled slightly at Jack’s affronted look and they left the room, the Ancient-inspired technology locking the sliding door with a wave of Jack’s hand.

The building they were in was on the campus’ main quadrangle, which Daniel found to be eerily reminiscent of countless Earth universities: a large rectangle of grass crisscrossed by paths in a stone composite similar to concrete and covered by students laid out on the grass or running to class; impressive, temple-like buildings with ionic columned facades and names of subjects, donors, or famous professors across the lintels; a massive, imposing library at one end, the administration building at the other, and a stair-step fountain in the center of the sloping lawn that Daniel was reasonably certain was donated by the class that had graduated ten system cycles ago. The mossy grass was a rich royal purple and the curly script the Populi wrote Ancients in, but otherwise the whole place reminded Daniel of home.

They crossed the quad and went up the steps of the archaeology and linguistics building, which Daniel had learned on the previous day’s tour was named after a famous linguist who was also known for his conviction that the planet was actually a flat plane situated on the back of a large indigenous sea creature that looked like a cross between a dolphin and a turtle. They were greeted by the director of the archaeology department as they walked inside.

“Dr. Jackson, welcome, welcome,” the portly man said, vigorously shaking Daniel’s hand. “We are all so pleased you could come. This way, this way.” He bustled off down the hall, Daniel and Jack trailing in his wake.

“He’s speaking Ancient,” Jack whispered, breath ghosting over Daniel’s ear. As always, the sudden closeness made Daniel shiver.

“With a few changes in pronunciation and syntax, yes,” he said, trying to keep his voice even.

“Then why can I understand him like he was speaking English?”

Daniel tapped the flower-shaped device pinned to his lapel; there was an identical one on Jack’s BDU jacket. “Universal translator,” he said. “Not sure how it works, something with…brainwaves, I think.”

“We’re gonna want some of those,” Jack said with a grin.

“Major Kovachek’s working on it,” Daniel said, grinning back. He was always in favor of trading for non-military tech, too.

They stopped in front of one of the doors as the change of class chimes rang and the hallways quickly began to empty. “This will be your classroom for the week,” the director said. “Have a good lecture.” He shook Daniel’s hand again, paled at the baleful look Jack gave him when he tried to shake his hand, and bustled off down the hall. Daniel looked at Jack, took a deep breath, and pushed open the door.

Like the campus itself, the room was familiar to Daniel, a large lecture hall with sloping seating facing a wall of grayish writing boards with a screen pulled down over a section for the projector. The hall was relatively full, so Jack took a seat in the front row, ignoring the staring students around him.

Daniel hooked up the laptop and projector and then stepped up to the podium, surveying the assembled students. Here was one of the first notable differences about the Populi: about one third of his students were blue.

**Author's Note:**

> "Pontifex" does literally translate to "bridge maker", and before the term was adopted by the Catholic Church, it was used in Rome to refer to certain kinds of priests.


End file.
